In recent years, digital cameras (imaging apparatuses, imaging device or image sensing apparatus) capable of photographing an image by a simple operation and converting the image into digital image data have widely been used. To print an image photographed by this camera and use the print as a photograph, the photographed digital image data is temporarily input from the digital camera to a PC (computer), and undergoes image processing by the PC. The processed data is then output from the PC to a color printer, which prints the data.
To the contrary, there have been developed color print systems capable of directly transferring digital image data from a digital camera to a color printer and printing the data without the mediacy of any PC, and so-called photo-direct (PD) printers capable of directly mounting in a color printer a memory card which is mounted in a digital camera and stores a sensed image, and printing the photographed image stored in the memory card.
A digital camera generally stores image data encoded by JPEG or the like. In particular, to directly transfer image data from a digital camera to a printer and print the image data, JPEG-encoded data is temporarily decoded in printing. Then, the data is transferred to the printer and printed. Recently, printer apparatuses with a decoding function for JPEG codes and a function for color conversion and the like have been developed. To output print data to such a printer apparatus, the function of the connected printer apparatus must be confirmed to switch the format of output image data.
Digital cameras require decreases in size and weight. However, a plurality of keys for various operations in printing make the camera itself bulky, which conflicts with the user's needs.